black
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And it acting was exciting to me. And scary.

Tracee Ellis Ross

One of the photographers was like, “Can you stop talking and try to look sexy for a minute?”
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Appearance Oneself Stop Talk Time
My mom didn’t adhere to any of those typical rules. She woke us up for school every morning, and was there at dinner or would call at bedtime. She never left for longer than a week. She recorded while we were sleeping.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Mom Morning Myself Record Rule Sleep
In some of the darkest and hardest moments, there is always a part of me that is okay. And I can always access that part of me.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Access Darkness Hard Time Myself
Sometime in my second year at Brown [University], I took an acting class. And the lightbulb went off for me. I fell in love with it. I realized that everything I was afraid of about myself, all my fears, could be used in that world.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Acting Class Fall Fear Love Myself Time World
I want to be awake. I want to choose kindness, live & let live. I want joy, gratitude, and peace today.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Awakening Choice Day Gratitude Joy Kindness Peace
Just embrace your hair! I really feel like I am not an advocate for people doing what I do. I’m an advocate for people discovering and finding what works for them.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Embrace Finding Hairs People Work
The two things that I thought were really interesting about this character [Bow] for me were that she actually loved her husband, and he loved her. The comedy was not coming from the fact that they hated each other. Which is what television couples are usually based on.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Couple Husband Interest Love Myself Thinking
Throughout high school, I was obsessed with magazines. I used to just comb through them and plaster things on my wall.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Magazine Myself Obsession Wall
Someone asked me recently, “Do you get sick of people asking you about your hair?” And the reason I don’t is because I actually feel like you could chronicle my journey of self-acceptance through my journey with my hair. It’s a badge of something bigger.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Acceptance Hairs Journey Myself People Reason Sick
My mom helped me. I was very shy growing up, but my shyness sort of manifested in a big personality.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Growth Manifestation Mom Personality Shy
I sometimes think to myself, you’re not going to meet a new friend of any kind at home in front of the TV with your DVR. As much as it’s great, and there are so many good shows on TV, and I have great books that I’m reading, get out and interact with people.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Home Interact Kind Myself Reading Thinking
Black-ish is really a show about an American family and these are some of the topics that come up – for all of us, in different ways – and we get to see how this family is walking through it.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Family Journey See Topic Walk
I think television is doing a better job than films in terms of representing people, but television is still not diverse.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Better Diversity Myself Representation Television Thinking
When you feel happy, you look beautiful.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Happiness Yourself
This is a couple that actually loves, respects & appreciates each other.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Appreciate Couple Each Other Love
[Black-ish creator] Kenya Bariss wrote on Girlfriends. We’ve been friendly since then. He sent me [the pilot] and said, “I wrote it for you.” But I know what that means in this industry.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Writing
There is a way to be a woman, ask for what we deserve and be able to negotiate.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Deserve Negotiate Way Woman
My bathroom is filled with hair and makeup stuff and I play with it all the time. What the real lesson is, is that you can own your own sense of beauty. It doesn’t have to be something you get from somewhere else.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Beautiful Hairs Lesson Myself Play
I was shy, but it came out in a big personality. My turning point was when I let my hair go naturally and I got contact lenses. I am really blind, by the way. I have these big eyes that don’t work!
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Appearance Blind Eyes Myself Point Way Work
Somehow [Kenya Bariss] has figured out how to explore these very weighty, sticky, sharp topics, and still be funny and not make fun of the topic.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Explore Funny Sharp Topic Weight
I think our culture promotes fear and shame.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Culture Fear Promote Shame Thinking
I’ve always been a curious thinker. And now, as an adult, I can articulate it.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Adult Curiosity Myself Thinking
I’m extremely blessed to have the extraordinary mother that I have, and I don’t mean Diana Ross, I mean the mother. My mom paved a road that didn’t exist, as did Oprah.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Blessing Empowerment Existence Mom Woman
My mom would leave her job, and there would be throngs of people screaming and banging on our car. I come from a very private family, but I was born into a public family.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Born Family Leave Myself People Scream
I like to choose compassion over judgment and curiosity over fear.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Choice Compassionate Curiosity Fear Myself
My generation is one of the first generations of “choiceful” women – women who have actually had the choice of how they architect their lives – and I don’t think shame should have any place in that. But as that generation, you get cuts and bruises.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

Bruise Generation Hurt Live Myself Place Shame Thinking Woman
After college, I shot a pilot for a show on Lifetime, which was basically House of Style for a TV lover. I think I got paid $1,500, and I was like, “Mom, I’m moving out! I made it!” I did two seasons of that, but I felt like a talking head and wanted to do more.
TRACEE ELLIS ROSS

College Lover Myself Paid Season Thinking

And it acting was exciting to me. And scary.

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And it acting was exciting to me. And scary.

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